Gonna Ride 'Till I Can't No More
by WaddleBuff
Summary: Before he leaves again, Malon wants Link to give her a gift she'll never lose or forget. [Smut]


Coolness of twilight combed through Malon's hair as the sky was set alight. She clung to Link's arm, humming a harmony to the tune of his ocarina. The grass below them was soft, and Epona grazed on it peacefully at the foot of the hill that they sat upon.

It had been a lovely past few days, days that Malon cherished and internalized best she could. She never knew when Link would come back, trotting through the front gates of the ranch, exhausted. Sometimes it was only a few weeks. The longest was several months.

Malon sat up as Link finished, letting the last note hang in the air. She brought a hand up to his face, brushing aside a lock of blonde that covered his eye-she always did love the way he looked without his hat.

Her heart instantly sank at the sight of him. More specifically, the look in his gaze.

As the grassy sea of the field ebbed and flowed, Link looked beyond, over the great River, deep, deep, deep into the darkness of the trees.

Deep into the Woods.

He was always staring into them, every time he visited her. It was a look of somber remembrance, but also of desperate urgency. One that Malon knew wouldn't leave until he found who he searched for.

It was always a look that drove a pinprick of pain in her heart. Mostly because she knew there was nothing she could do to help him, a pain in his own heart that she could never soothe.

But tonight, the distant gaze in his eye had a finality to it that brought tears to Malon's eyes.

Just from that look, Malon could tell: he would be gone by morning, and he wasn't coming back.

"She calls for you, don't she?" Malon said, her voice as soft as the rustle of the distant trees. "Callin' you back into the woods?"

Link kept looking forward. The hand he had wrapped around her shoulder tightened, and she felt him shiver. As stalwart as he was, she knew he was in pain, a string of longing that choked him in ways she could never imagine.

Malon couldn't bear to look at him any longer, and deigned to watch the splatters of tears against the patterns sewn onto her dress.

"I know you'll ride out at first light…"

Link remained silent, and the hand shivered against her but remained firm in its grip.

"...but can I ask you for something?"

Link turned to her. He made the motion to wipe the tears spilling onto her freckled cheeks, but she denied him the denied him, pushing his hand away before grabbing it with both of hers.

She searched deep into Link's eyes, past the fog of his personal torment, of whatever it was that determined his true North, into the Woods. She found him. Looking back, just like when they first met all those years ago.

Without another thought Malon pressed their lips together, a desperate kiss, one that felt more real than any of the others they'd shared during the past week.

Finality.

More tears sprung to Malon's eyes as he kissed her back, again and again, their hands now all over each other, grabbing to their bodies through clothes, tousled in hair, clinging to bare ski, the taste of Malon's spit accented by the salt of her tears.

By the time she parted, she was on top of him now, breathing heavily as the sun was finally doused behind her, the sky slipping into indigo.

"Please…" she said, a plead in her eyes as she dug her fingers into his chest. "Let's...let's go back to the ranch, Link. Leave me something to remember you by."

* * *

Dusk had settled in thick by the time they galloped past the main gates of Lon Lon Ranch. As was the case all week, they had the entire ranch to themselves; Talon and Ingo were off in the town, running a stall or another for a weeks-long festival celebrating the summer solstice.

As an extension, Malon and Link had the entire house to themselves.

But for now, all they needed was the bedroom.

Link barely had any time to light the lamp before Malon was upon him, pushing him roughly against the wall next to the door. Her mouth swirled desperately on his, and he opened his lips in turn, letting their tongues embrace in a hot tousle.

Her hands already had his tunic halfway up his body, palms flat against the firmness of his abs. Link's own hands palmed her suppleness, fingers squeezing through the familiar thinness of her white dress.

Malon further pushed herself against him, practically draping her body onto his as she rubbed against his firmness with her pliable curves. The need for more touch increased the urgency of their hands, clothing peeled off, crumpled and discarded into piles at their feet. There was a momentary lapse in the union of their mouths, breaths hot while their hands worked to remove every barrier between them.

The lapse was short-lived, and as soon as Malon kicked off her boots, they were upon each other again, nothing to come between the kiss of their skin. Malon sighed at the way Link's firm hand planted itself in the small of her back, guiding her subtle grinds of need. Malon's own hand was grasped firmly around his tool, expertly sliding the band of her fingers from base to tip, letting him spurt out beads of pre onto her skin.

The kisses grew more desperate as the seconds dribbled on, Malon's free hand clutching desperately into Link's shaggy hair as if his lips were the very air she needed. Spit trailed down the side of their mouths in meandering trails as their tongues continued making love, heads shifting in gulps of air, mouths yielding and clasping in delicious smacks.

Eventually, their breathing grew too labored and needy for just their nostrils, and Malon withdrew, clear strands bridging their lips as they panted together, both of them hot. She brought the hand behind his head to cup his cheek. Her eyes scanned every detail of his face, of the way his eyes hungered for her, peered into her own as if she was every answer he ever needed.

Malon knew that was far from the truth, but she also knew that Link was the most honest man she'd ever met. So in this moment, there were no Woods, no more greater aspirations than to be with her, to love her.

She took another moment to soak in that look, make sure it imprinted itself into her mind before she fought the quiver of her lip by sinking back into his lips. She kissed and kissed him until she felt her mouth bruise.

She parted again, this time peeling her body off his, letting the candlelight cast its golden glow onto her pale skin. There were already marks from nights before. Faint bruises on her hips from Link's hard grip, imprints of his teeth on her neck, on her breasts, on the wide berth of her hips, the insides of her thighs. Red handprints when she screamed for Link to mark her as his and his alone, to _brand _her.

And even in all of those hot nights of his admonishing love, Malon wanted tonight to cap it all off, to be the culmination of all their consummation.

The fiery tresses of her hair fell over her shoulders in a way that drew Link's gaze down over her body, his dark eyes palming her skin from the freckles of her nose down to the fidget of her toes. She let him look, let him drink her in before she stepped back to him, both of her hands now gripped around his shaft.

Her eyes melted into his with a heat that could forge steel, and together their breaths grew as his hand found the moist apex between her legs.

"Make me yours, Link…" Malon said, voice barely a croak of a whisper. "Tonight, more than ever, I don't want you to just mark me…" she leaned forward, pressing her cheek against his as she inched her body forward, making his hands grip her hips as she spread herself, sinking, sinking onto his hardness. She let out a sigh as she felt him fill her, felt her hero make her feel whole like nobody else ever could. "...I want you to leave me something to remember you by."

Her words couldn't have been misinterpreted even if he tried.

Only a few moments later and Link reversed their position, pinning Malon to the wall as his hips began to pump into her. His hands possessively dug into the familiar holds on the back of her plump ass, and Malon eagerly swiveled her hips into him as he took her, and took her hard.

She could only gasp in pure joy and ecstasy, Link's cock hitting her in just the right spots to make her see stars with every subsequent thrust of his hips. He kept going just the way she loved it: hard and unrelenting, stopping only when he's finished or when she tells him to.

To this day, she never had.

Wood of the thin bedroom walls thudded faster and faster, growing louder than the smacking of their lips, the slaps of their skin. Sweat already began to trickle down their skin as Link started truly driving into her, his battleborn hardness shoving and rippling through Malon's entire body. She had to separated from his mouth, yelping as she felt herself unravel around his girth.

Heat of her essence splattered between them, and Malon's fingers dug into Link's back even harder as he continued plowing into her throughout it. She came again as his lips fluttered on her neck, her body around him like a pulsing hot glove. He sucked on her skin like she was the sweetest of honeysuckle, and she could feel all of those firm sinews of muscle flexing and driving into her further still, as if she was the only thing that mattered to him.

Link grunted in effort as he brought up one of Malon's legs, hiking it up to his hip, giving him access to more sensitive depths. With the new angle, Link doubled the speed of his hips, making Malon go limp in his domination, her yelps turning into a silent scream as she came again, shivering out in pulsations that squeezed tight around him until in only a few more thrusts, Link too came undone.

Thick jets of his potent spunk filled Malon, the now-familiar sensation making her sigh contentedly as it flared up in her belly. This was the gift she wanted, the gift that she needed to remember him by. His airy grunts accompanied the slower smacks of their skin as he emptied himself, each subsequent shot growing weaker than the last.

When the last spurt of his cum joined the load, he withdrew from her neck, giving her a gentle kiss as they caught their breath. Again Malon took a moment to appraise him, loving the way sweat glistened so thinly in a sheen across his jawline, how some strands of his dirty blond plastered against his forehead.

How he bit his lip as he started moving his hips again,his pulsing crown pushing out against her clenching fold.

Without another word, Malon understood, and started her own efforts, one of her hands clasping tight onto the back of his neck for balance as they started the cycle anew. Just like this night, Link's gift was far from over.

* * *

"Sh-Sh_it_, yes that's it, _harder_, Link, _harder!_"

Malon gasped and howled out into the night as her hands gripped tight into the wood of her windowsill. Link pounded her from behind like a beast, his hands painfully digging into the bruised marks he left from several nights earlier when they had fucked in the exact same position.

At least an hour or two had passed since they had returned back to the ranch, and already Malon could feel her womb slosh and swell at the sheer amount of Link's seed. His cock plunged into her again and again, scraping out hot dollops of his previous loads out onto the floor.

Malon's red hair drew curlicues and long fiery streams across the sweaty expanse of her pale skin. She was drenched in sweat, just as Link was as they continued. There was something inherently satisfying about doing it like this, hearing her voice echo and triplicate out into the great expanse of Hyrule, feeling her breasts sway freely below her with every successive drive of Link's mighty hips. She never wanted this to end as she came once more, hot cascades of heat coursing through her, pulling Link by the throat to bring his own peak as well.

Once more Malon felt himself unload inside of her tightness, that thick girth of his firing more hot ropes of spunk to splatter and coat her insides white. She pushed her hips back, shivering under the weight of her own pleasure as Link leaned over her body. As his load continued, Link's hands smoothed up Malon's body, sliding across her sweat as they palmed the softness of her bosom.

Malon bit her lip at the way he buried himself into the sweaty mess of her hair, letting out a mewl at his quivering lips suckling the nape of her neck as he kept filling her and filling her.

They caught their breaths like that, his chest flush against the arch of her back, his mouth on her skin, arms tight around her soft frame, holding her close, letting her feel the rhythm of his heart.

* * *

The moon hung high in the sky, and the oil was running low on the lamp.

Malon leaned back, her hands on Link's ankles as she sunk herself again and again on his prick. She let her head fall back, choking out gasps as Link's hands roamed up and down the front of her naked body, thumbs pressing taut against her stomach, over the perky pink of her tits, the freckles on her shoulders.

Sweat glistened bright over the entirety of her skin as she flaunted it for Link to drink in, to watch as that sweat would spatter into the air with every successive crash of her thighs atop his own. Soon enough Link took to swiping his thumb roughly against her swollen clit, making her squeal. Malon kept up her pace, fighting the urge to just let Link's ministrations bring her to an end before she could finish the job and squeeze yet another load from him, clenching ever-tight around him as she concentrated.

Her efforts paid off and she heard the telltale groan, feeling the throb of his crown inside of her as he let off another buckshot of sticky heat. Only then did Malon let herself unravel under Link's touch for the umpteenth time that night, her quim adding to wet mess they've made on the sheets, Link's cum instantly spilling out of her in bubbling dollops with no more room left to fill.

It had been hours, little infinities strung together by their collective moans, the incessant union of their skin, their souls.

Malon wanted to keep going, keep going until the morning when she knew Link would inevitably trot away out of the ranch once more.

Out of her life.

It struck her again as she came down from her high, bringing her body forward and looking at Link as he looked up at her with those eyes.

Finality.

Every moment seemed like a snapshot, like the frames of a life passing through someone's mind before they died. Even as Link lay below her, _inside _her, Malon felt as if he were already gone. She felt a dreadful knot in her chest as she fell forward, pressing herself against him.

Her hands panickedly clutched him, sudden sobs choking out from her lungs without tears as she buried her face into his neck.

"_Don't go_." was what Malon wanted to say, so desperately wanted Link to do. She never wanted this night to end, for their love to end.

But she didn't say it. She knew whatever called him out yonder was what he needed to do. And she couldn't bear to live with him a moment longer with that look in his eyes.

Link wrapped her body with those strong arms, cradling her tight. She didn't have to ask him or say anything other than the sobs she choked out, the tears she splattered against the sweat of his neck.

Malon cried a body-wracking, wrenching cry. Neither of them knew how long it lasted. Her pulse beat staccato into Link's body as she did, and her sobs becoming his, echoing from her bosom into the chamber of his chest.

But by the end of it as Malon calmed, she could feel Link's own tears as they closed their eyes and molded their lips around each other, his hand softly stroking the shell of her pointed ear.

She lay there like that, on top of him, letting his hand softly stroke up and down her back, thumb running along comfortably against the ridge of her ear. She wondered if she'd ever feel as whole as she did now, the pain in her chest all but gone, found form through the tears that now stained the bed alongside the fruits of their love.

Then, she felt Link's lips brush against the ear closest to his face.

His words were brief, barely a whisper.

But they were enough.

And Malon finally succumbed to sleep, a smile on her face.

Morning came, and Link was gone.

Surprising even herself, as Malon walked to the open window and looked out into the Woods, knowing that Link was in there, searching for whatever brought him that unexplainable pain, she felt peace.

The words he had whispered to her played again in her head, and she could only smile.

With that, Malon went on about with the morning as if it was any other morning on Lon Lon Ranch, nothing different other than the slight limp in her step, and the messier-than-usual frizz of her hair.

Malon went on with the rest of the week in the same way, welcoming back Talon and Ingo, living on as she did every other day of her life.

Malon kept on living. Day after day, gazing longingly into the Woods, waiting until the sun dipped low over the horizon, before rounding the cows back home.

Malon kept on living, and as the days would pass, so would the years.

It had been almost ten now as Malon stormed out of the stables. It was nearing dusk.

Coolness of twilight combed through her hair as the sky was set alight, her unruly fiery red bound up in a ponytail.

"Oh, where is that boy…" she said, grumbling to herself as she searched, calling out his name with her hands on her hips. "It's almost supper! If you don't git back 'ere this instant, youn-"

Her words were cut short the moment she saw him, perched up on the roof of the paddock shed. Malon sighed.

She should have known.

She made her way over to him, watching him from afar.

Link's gift.

He looked almost exactly like him when she they had first met. Dirty blonde, noble blue eyes, skinny build.

And as Malon got closer to him, that same look. A look of longing for something greater, of adventure.

Malon felt that pang in her heart again, a sad smile on her lips. She followed the line of his sight once she reached him, leaning on the paddock fence. He was looking straight across the river, right into those Woods.

"It's time for supper, bud." Malon said, considerably softer and less irate than before. That night flashed through her again. "Been lookin' for ya since I brought the cows in."

It was just about this time when she saw Link last, right when the summer started and the cooler winds blew away eastward. Malon heard her son sigh.

He had something on his mind, and she was pretty sure what it was.

"Ma?"

"Yes?"

"Is pa really...out there? In those Lost Woods out yonder?"

Malon looked into those woods, into their vast darkness, their cold grip. It was a sight she would often look out into when she waited for Link to return, to come back between weeks, months of absence. It was a sight that usually drove her to tears.

But instead of that fear, that frustration she felt in her chest all those years ago, Malon only felt peace, felt that faint, faint string that led into their unfathomable murkiness. Led to him.

She smiled wider.

"Yes he is. Searchin' for the shine, just like I told you."

A silence. No questioning of what that shine was. What exactly his father needed to accomplish so much that he would leave the love of his life. That wasn't what concerned the child.

"Is he really comin' back?"

The question should have been obvious to Malon, but she still started. She looked up at her son, meeting the fierceness of his gaze, the blue that she had admired so much in Link. She felt tears welling up, her chest tighten into a knot. How many years had it been…

Then, as if it were only moments ago, Malon felt Link's lips against her air, the words brush against her in a reassuring baritone, the hand at the small of her back.

And all at once, that knot loosened up and she could only beam up at him, at Link's gift, at their most beautiful of labors.

"If there's one thing you can count on, bud, it's your pa comin' back." Malon turned to look out into the wood, a gust of wind bristling through the tall grass of the plain, almost knocking the hat atop her head. Those words rang out like the notes of the song she taught him, an eternity ago, and she let some tears slip past onto her cheek.

She suddenly felt something warm in her hand, holding it tight, reassuring her. Malon looked down at her son, her little Link, bringing her other hand to ruffle that little mop of blonde.

He looked up at her with expectant eyes, with more of an answer.

Malon choked.

"G-Gods...you're looking more and more like him each day…"

The sight of him only grew cloudy as more tears started slipping out. She fell to her knees, and brought him close, wrapping her arms and clinging to him tight, sobs wracking her entire being.

The wind died down, and there was only her wail as she tried to remember the tune of days gone by.


End file.
